


Changes We Go Through

by FelixLovesPrinces



Category: Original Work
Genre: Adorable, Angst, Badass, Blood, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gay, Graphic Depictions of Illness, Graphic Description of Corpses, How Do I Tag, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Maybe - Freeform, School, Shounen, Starvation, Teenagers, Travel, Wholesome, Zombie Apocalypse, Zombies, again at some point, angsty teens, at some point at least - Freeform, chapters will be tagged seperately, everyone is a mess, highschool, idk what am i doing, kind of?, omg this is a mess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2019-12-30 15:24:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18318011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FelixLovesPrinces/pseuds/FelixLovesPrinces
Summary: People have heard about the zombie apocalypse happening, 'tox' is what they call them.The students at the Swan high school in the busy city of Amsterdam have been going to school nonetheless. However, everything must come to some sort of end; this is bound to be the last week the kids will have to deal with. After this, they're free to hide out and pray for their lives.As luck would have it, one of those last days the parasite causing all of this mayhem is found in the cafeteria food. This puts the school in lockdown. To make matters worse there is a horde full of 'tox' recently arrived at Central Station on a train from Paris. And they're headed south- right towards the school.----orThis is a caboodle of words about teenagers doing stupid shit. There will be some sort of emotion or meaning in there someday... I think. But for now, it's a mess. Enjoy!





	1. Ordinary Day

**Author's Note:**

> hey, so the ending is kinda rushed and probably messed up I apologise in advance.
> 
> I did proofread like two times and this is my third draft. Ya'll can be proud of me for actually putting work in, lol.

April 1st 2019 - Swan high school - Amsterdam

Monday 13:45

The 8th grade ‘D’ were sitting in their seats in the classroom 116. Most of their eyes were practically glued to the digital board at the front of the class. Others were looking at their phone or conversing amongst each other. The time right now was actually reserved for teaching, this was the last week of school until it’d be locked down until the dangers of an upcoming apocalypse would falter. However, most teachers instead just let the news play and allow the students whatever they wish to do to keep themselves occupied. The school has prepared emergency routines, saved food, barricaded the outside better (thank God our fences are like prison ones). Anything to give the students a safe environment to learn their last couple of things. It wasn’t certain if this entire thing was going to just pass or if this was quite the end of humanity. Some hoped the former, some the latter.  
Most classes were now focused on teaching life skills, if possible. Others continued on with the programme. Math, history, religion; no one even paid attention anymore. Who cared? For all that we know the world could end any minute, right? It has already happened in America. Then again, lots of things go wrong in America. The schools closing was just for the safety of the students, we were all advised to stay productive though. That way our studies wouldn’t have to suffer from this. Stuff like that can be expected from a ‘Gymnasium’ though, a bit like a private school in America. More work, more opportunities when you’re done.

The Dutch teacher, Mr Smit, was playing the latest news; 1 o’ clock edition. Something new would happen nearly every hour which is why everyone would just keep getting updates on what’s going on. However, the news would never really tell anyone everything. Which is why most people in this classroom were more than thankful that they were in a school environment with lots of teachers who know more about this than the average civilian. Now some might wonder ‘what is going on exactly?’ Well, it’s quite a story so strap in.  
An already somewhat famous parasite called Toxoplasmosis has further evolved and has grown into a more dangerous creature. Before it evolved, it would control rats and mice to force them to expose themselves to cats. So the mouse or rat would be eaten, and the parasite could continue to grow in the stomach of the cat. It’s pretty scary to think about, but it’s not like humans would ever experience real harm from it, right?  
Well, that’s the thing. It now does affect humans: Once eaten by a person, it starts to grow in the human’s stomach. So it can easily get into its bloodstream and travel to the most important part of the body; the brain. There the human will become a slave to the parasite, so it can work on reproduction, the second stage. The human will search out others, bite them, have a part of the parasite travel into the bloodstream of the freshly bitten human and the cycle continues. It’s not quite as splashy or impressive as in all the science fiction regarding zombies, but it works similarly. However, the infected aren’t called ‘Zombies’, that would be silly, and no one would be taken seriously. They’re called Tox. 

“What time is it?” Vincent whines, rocking his chair backwards. He, like many others in the classroom, can’t wait for school to already be over (now with a reason that makes a bit more sense than the usual ‘I am lazy and want to go home already’.) Felix, who was sitting next to Vincent, looked at the clock and attempted to read it. Before he could answer Jasmine mutters “Quarter to two.” without looking up from her phone. It’s a wonder her parents, her overprotective parents, haven't decided to keep her home. Everyone was quite surprised she even agreed to go to school this last week. She usually wasn’t the type to take risks like this. Granted, she’s got determination like no other, but this sort of bravery is something new. Something that was probably sparked by this weird turn of events recently. The brunette’s argument was that "I want to spend as long as I can with my friends before I might never see them again." Which probably is the only reason anyone even is here. Lots of parents have decided to keep their children at home and no one can judge them, parents would assume that the safest place for their kids is right by their side. Though this school building is pretty impressive nonetheless; a huge building with a skeleton of both wood and cement, lots of places to hide, a strong fence. The only real bad thing about the school is it is in Amsterdam; one of the busiest cities in the world. Tox could come from anywhere in the world to over here; it could be expected that some Tox filled train will arrive at Central Station sometime soon. Then everything is bound to go to hell.  
Jasmine continues to look at her phone, a certain type of worry written all over her face. She was staying in contact with her parents and siblings, chatting with them about whatever. Felix rests his head on the table in front of him and closes his eyes for a moment. For some reason, there was too much noise and not enough at the same time. Some sort of distraction other than death counts and worried chatter would be wonderful. “The day is nearly over.” He eventually says to no one in particular, his voice muffled by the fabric of his hoodie sleeve. The small group who heard him nodded in reply. They only had one more period to go and they’d be free, finally. 

_“...A local news report tells us that the bunkers in the province of Noord-Holland are officially all full and booked. People will be moved there tomorrow and continue to live underground for as long as is deemed necessary. To all of those who are less fortunate, we will now continue with a listing of other good places to hide and bunker until the apocalypse is over...”_

The news anchor continues to list things that only about half of the class is paying attention to. The bunkers existed in several countries. They were reserved for the rich and the intelligent. Some athletes, too. People who could rebuild humanity if they’d have to. But only a small handful of people from our school even went there. Two or three teachers and some rich students but that’s it. Felix continues to listen to the news for now, though not really remembering what’s being said. Instead, he just let the words wash over him. He prefers to think about what he was going to do once he could go home. Probably catch a ride with Jasmine to get back home quickly enough, go to the supermarket to buy something for in a bunker…

The boy finally sat up straight again when the classroom phone suddenly rang. Smit snapped out of his staring at the board. He picks up the phone and anxiously swallows before answering, attempting to keep a somewhat calm and professional tone. “Yes?” he asks, doing an impressive job at keeping himself together. Most students assumed that all the other classes would be cancelled, that they could all just leave now and never come back. However, once they could see the colour drain from Smit’s face everyone knew something else was going on. Smit nods a couple of times, apparently not fully aware that the person on the other end of the line couldn’t actually see him. “Mhm. Yeah. Okay. Thank you, until later then.” He hangs up and looks at the class for a moment. He appears to scan over every student, look at how they’re feeling if they’re paying attention. All of them were. Felix locks eyes with him for a brief moment and a chill runs up his spine. God, why must everyone look as scared as a wounded animal that is begging for a mercy kill?  
“Okay, guys. So there is an uh- announcement.” He pauses, taking another breath. “Who of you guys ate cafeteria food today? Raise your hands, come on.” A couple of students, perhaps 12, raise their hands slowly. Felix, Jasmine, Lara, Bobbie, just to name a few. “Okay, I’m just going to need the hands of those who ate any of the bread.” Nearly everyone lowered their hands, the only ones left were Jasmine and this girl named Julia. “You two. Please get to the front of the class.” They both did as they were told, shuffling to the front. Jasmine kept her eyes on the corner she came from; Katinka, Vincent and Felix. “I have just heard that apparently, the bread used for making the sandwiches has potentially had toxoplasmosis in it,” Smit explained, and the class stared at the two girls in front of the class in shock. “It’ll be an hour to… well… anytime until we find out if either of you has been infected. But there’s a good chance your safe.” That was one of those things that comes with becoming a Tox. After being infected (either through eating food containing it or through being bitten you never quite know when you can expect to see symptoms. Some people are infected but never change, other people change mere minutes after being infected. You never really know. This means that both Jasmine and Julia could change within the following hour and I was not willing to let that happen. “We are going to have to lock the door with some tables, blockade it. We’ll grab some old newspapers from the shelf to block out the windows to the hallway, too.” Simons explains, and Lara raises her hand. “What about Jasmine and Julia? What’s going to happen with them?” she asks, and it takes a second for our teacher to reply. “They’ll have to be apart from the group a little.” He turned to face them. “But you’ll be fine. As long as you don’t stop talking we’ll know you’re safe to be around.”  
Now it was Lianne’s turn to raise her hand, she spoke without being called on. “Why do we need to barricade everything, and block the windows and stuff?” She asked, and Smit appeared somewhat uneasy to answer this one. He explained that the school has received word from the local police that a couple of Tox packed trains have arrived on Central Station, at that they are now headed South, over the Dam and later, probably, the street our school is in. We also are pretty close to a different train station, ‘Amstel’. Though the trains arriving there are a lot less busy. “Anyway,” he concludes, “that means we will be on lockdown for now. No one’s getting in, no one’s getting out. Not until we hear that the herd has been controlled.” 

Smit starts assigning people tasks, the stronger ones starting to set up a blockade and cleaning up a small space where we’ll be able to sit on the floor. Others are trying to make a somewhat homey place to sit down and talk near the heaters. Some others and I were in charge of somehow glueing old newspaper onto the windows. Julia and Jasmine were obediently sitting in what would soon become our camp, talking to each other to ensure each other not being... Well... Dead. Tox can do a bunch of things that humans could do and talking wasn't one of them. Ergo; if they'd continue to hold a conversation, both of them can immediately know if something is off. 

Bobbie, Felix, and some others were occupied with blocking the windows facing the hallway. That way any potential Tox in the school wouldn’t be able to see the kids’ movement, and they wouldn’t linger outside 116 “Well, at least we don’t have to kill ourselves now.” Bobbie says, and Felix gives her a sideways glance. “‘M sorry?” He asks, showing some concern. It’s not like they didn’t joke about their depression before. “Oh, with the plague and all. Something is going to kill us before we can do it.” Felix thought about it a little longer and shrugged. “Huh. That’s one way of looking at it.” Though, plenty of people have already killed themselves because of the plague, too scared of it. Felix has already talked with a couple of people before everything got serious, and many told him that they’d rather end their lives. Though, Felix could never really understand why. Why wouldn’t you want to try and continue living, right?  
“But like, we’ll be fine though. This is just a small problem and the school will be able to fix it.” Lara adds from next to them, helping with holding up the paper “I hope so.” The boy replies, And though it takes a good while, soon the class was able to set up a pretty decent bunker.

3:00 PM  
The class hasn’t heard from anyone in quite some time now. The panicked atmosphere was still very present amongst the students, but Smit has done everything in his power to help everyone calm down. In one corner of the classroom, there’s a small radio, constantly playing whatever channels they’d receive. Some radio stations have settled on playing music, after all, a good mood is important. Especially during times like these. Other channels were just playing the news as often as they could. Smit was sitting in his chair, reading a story from one of his books. A hand full of students were listening to him. Something about it must’ve reminded them of the days where the world wasn’t going to hell. Of the times were the good days were those where Smit would read to us, instead of teaching us.  
The ones who weren’t listening to the teacher or the radio were either conversing amongst themselves or calling their parents, telling them they’re okay and that they’re stuck at school. Lots of parents were offering to pick their kids up, but the school wouldn’t allow anyone out anyway. 

6:30 PM  
Since there weren’t any issues until now, the mood in the class was lifted. Everyone felt a little more at ease, perhaps this was going to end well, after all. Smit has stopped reading his stories, and decided to take a break to just talk.  
Felix, Lara, Bobbie, and Luca were all sitting in a circle; swapping stories and talking about whatever might happen. “I heard that the tox virus can also be transmitted by just skin on skin contact,” Luca claims, and we give him a questioning look. “Yeah! My dad told me that. It would only make sense since the virus is everywhere in the body of the tox, so it would just have to touch another living thing to travel, right?” “Thank God that’s not true,” Lara replies, shaking her head. “The tox only resides in the brain and saliva of the infected humans. So you can touch their skin -heck, even their blood- and be risk-free of getting the disease. I have uh- friends with personal experience on the matter.” She explains, rubbing an ominous looking scratch on her arm absentmindedly.  
“Wait, what friend?” Felix inquires, but before Lara could answer, Smit got up. He clapped his hands together, immediately regretting doing so afterwards- seen as they were all advised to stay as silent as possible. “Well, uh-. I have heard from some of you guys that you’re starting to get hungry. And since we’re staying overnight anyway, I think it’ll be best to open up the cans of food right about now. We’ve got just about enough beans for you guys as well as a small basket of fruit for who’s interested. There are a couple of gas burners which we can use to heat everything up. Who of you guys knows how to work with those?” Felix, Vincent, and some others raise their hands. “Perfect. You guys are going to be cooking for tonight, then.” Smit said, adding that, of course, he’ll help them out. The two boys got up to leave, and a couple of minutes later Jasmine and Patrick took their places. 

Felix sat down, being tasked with filling the twenty-or-so cans of beans into smaller pots. “What the fuck even is this?” Vincent questioned, looking at the gas burner as if it was the most alien thing he has ever seen. “Didn’t you say you know how these worked like two seconds ago?” Felix asks, and Vincent lets out an exhausted sigh. “I guess we always used different ones. He pushed it over to Felix. “You try,” It was pretty unlike Vincent to give up on something this easy. Though the smaller boy decided against questioning it.  
It took a good minute for Felix to realise that he was equally useless trying to turn the gas burner on, and ended up handing it to Lianne who managed to start it up in a couple of simple clicks and a match. Felix gave her a baffled look “How-” “My dad and I go camping a lot.”  
After this, the beans were heated up in no time. Most students ended up having about a cup of them, though a couple of people ad to share. No one ended up too hungry though. Anyone who wished to do so also ate a piece of fruit. Of course, life could be better but… It was somewhat peaceful. 

10:30 PM  
The kids ended up the same as before; all in a circle, talking softly. They started to wonder what the other classes might be up to, they were all somewhat social and had a bunch of friends around.  
“I wonder if one of the classes… You know…” Patrick hesitated, and Vincent finished for him “All got turned into parasitic monsters?” “Yeah, that.”  
Felix couldn’t help but add “Be careful with those big words, Vince, you sure they’re not too heavy for you?” Vincent makes the decision to ignore the remark, though Jasmine got a laugh out of it. Lara, who was leaned against the heaters, complained about it somehow being so cold already. “These darn heaters must have some sort of 'Alright, let’s freeze anyone who decides to enter this building at night' mode.” She mutters. Felix reaches his hand out to touch them just to notice they were, indeed, ice cold. He yawns.  
This cause Katinka to yawn, too. “We should probably go to sleep like the others,” Jasmine suggested, glancing at the small group of cuddled together girls at the front of the class. Most of the kids make some sort of sound of agreement. “Don’t you think some of us should keep watch though?” Lara asks. For a second it wasn’t clear why, however, then all eyes were on Jasmine. Right. She was infected and could technically turn any second, just like Julia. Of course, they could also just never turn. But you never really know with these things. “I ain’t staying up late-.” Luca immediately commented, and Patrick nodded in agreement. “Me neither,” Vince noted. Lara gave all of them an ‘I’m not mad, just disappointed’ look. And sighed. “I’ll stay up. Bobbie, you too?”  
Bobbie, who has been silently doodling in her sketchbook looks up after nearly an hour of silence. She nods slowly “uh- sure-.” she was used to staying up late, anyway. She’d be fine. “So, Lara and Bobbie? I’m assuming I should also stay awake, since, y’know-.” Jasmine concluded. Katinka and Felix decided to also hit the hay. 

“Wake us up for the second shift.”


	2. A bird

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lara has been changed to Kallisto/ Kallie as per request
> 
> I know I promised some more people in this but this turned out longer than I intended it to. Next chapter will be up on Friday or so and will be around 5000 words if everything goes according to plan

“A bird is flying above the earth,  
To a place that’s still unknown.  
He has to flee the scarry winter,  
Leaving behind his home…”

_knock knock knock_

Felix blinked a couple of times, noticing he has fallen asleep in the corner of the classroom. He yawned, sitting up slightly. He noticed Bobbie asleep next to him and decided against waking her up. He rubbed his eyes and glanced around. Some kids were already awake, but the vast majority was asleep. For a moment the boy considered if the knocking sound that woke him up was just a dream. Was it? 

_knock knock knock_

Nope. Not a dream. Judging by the height of the sun in the sky, Felix assumed it must be about 9 am - ish. He noticed Katinka standing not too far away from him, looking at all of the posters on the walls. The Dutch classroom has always been generously decorated with posters by famous poets and students. It always made the room look a lot more colourful and welcoming. “You know, I never really got around to reading all of these,” Katinka noted, eyes scanning over the big pieces of paper. “I wonder what all of these mean.”  
Felix got up and joined Katinka where she was standing, he looked at the same poster as she did. “Isn’t it pretty obvious?” He questioned, cocking his head to the side. The green paper featured a couple of small birds alongside messy black text. It looked very childlike, the text was a bit more serious, though.  
Smit, who has gotten barely any sleep last night, appeared behind the two students. “I don’t even remember by who that was.” He states somberly. And though Felix didn’t believe it at first, the poster did indeed have no name. “What a shame.” 

“...A bird is flying above the earth,  
To a strange and different future,  
He had to leave is dreams behind,  
Fear taking over him like a hungry creature…”

“So I wasn’t just imagining that.” Felix realises, glancing at the well-barricaded wall facing the hallway. If you wouldn’t know where the door would be, to begin with, there’s a good chance you wouldn’t have been able to find it.  
“Yeah, we’ve been hearing it for a while now.” Katinka explains, “It’s often followed by talking. We’ve been assuming that people are starting to see if everyone is okay. Which is good! It’s just that we probably shouldn’t open the door before we hear them knocking on it.” 

Felix crossed his arms, holding onto his torso. He really didn’t like this, not one bit. But it couldn’t take long until everything would be alright, right? He suddenly snaps a little more awake “Hey, are Jasmine and Julia okay?” He immediately questioned, and Smit nodded reassuringly. “They’re fine. Both of them were sound asleep. 

_knock knock knock_

This time it was definitely the 116 door. “Yes?” Mr Smit asked, loudly enough for anyone outside to hear. “FBI open up.” A clearly younger voice replied, which resulted in the party on the other side of the wall falling into a short fit of laughter. “Jesus Christ, Jacob-. You don’t have to be a part of this, you know? You can just go downstairs and wait in the cafeteria like everybody else.” A deeper voice replies in a tone that made it clear this has happened before. A silence followed.  
“So, uh-.” Smit started to inquire, but the deep voice already continued talking. “I’m Thijs from grade 11 B. We’ve got a small group of people from Bep’s religion class. We’ve decided to collect all of the students, round everyone up in the cafeteria, and… talk. Is everyone in there okay?” Felix and Katinka share a quick smile, they were going to be saved! Well, not quite. But close enough nonetheless.  
Whoever else was awake started removing the blockades from the windows. On the other side, there was a small handful of 11th graders. They were much taller than any of the 8 D kids, and though appearing rather traumatised- they were all happy to see the group of healthy kids. 

It didn’t take long for them to clear out the area in front of the door. And oh, the door slamming open letting a rush of cold and fresh air it was more than just amazing. Smit stepped outside, giving the group of older teens a thankful smile. Felix and Katinka follow right behind him, the other kids gradually waking up. Felix glanced at the group, quickly noticing that one of them was-. Well, it would’ve been an exaggeration to say covered in blood. But the boy’s once white t-shirt was now partially soaked in an ominous looking red splatter. In his left hand was a pocket knife. Felix decided against questioning anything and instead made room for more people to leave the classroom.  
The one who appears to be the leader, Thijs, spoke up again. “We’re planning on gathering everyone in the cafeteria. If I’m not mistaken people are currently moving tables and chairs to the side to clear some room for all of us. Bags and stuff should be left in the entrance hall. Any food should be brought to the place the lunch lady usually prepares the food. The door to that place is open. Though none of us had the exact numbers. We’re assuming that about 60% of the school’s student body showed up today, so we should have more than enough space.” He explains. A girl who was also with the 11th graders now speaks up, addressing Mr Smit. “Do you have any idea how many students were in your class? We’re trying to keep count.” Smit thought about it for a second, but Katinka already piped up “18. I counted during the night shift. 19 if you count Mr Smit though.” The tall girl nods, scribbling something down in her notebook. 

“One last thing though;” Thijs said “Are any of the students infected? By either the cafeteria food or other means?” Right at this time, a small group of 8 D students leave the classroom, all appearing as though they have just woken up. “These two-” Mr Smit said, vaguely gesturing to Jasmine and Julia. Thijs gave both of them a critical look and nodded. He asked for their names, which they gave him. “Good. That means you two are able to talk. We’ll send you guys to the gym on the 4th floor with all the other infected.” He explains, the girl next to him again scribbling something down on her notebook. 

Jasmine frowns, hurriedly glancing from Smit, to Thijs, to Julia. “Wait- what?” She questions. “But what if I didn’t eat the infected bread? What if I’ll never even turn! I _will_ go upstairs if I have to, I just don’t like the idea-.” She says, the words practically falling out of her mouth. Thijs sighs. “Everyone has reacted like this so far-.It’s for the safety of the non-infected. Besides, we got a couple of people up there for if something would go wrong. You’ll be fine.”  
Jasmine clearly wasn’t pleased, but hesitantly agreed to go there nonetheless. She glanced at Julia, who hasn’t taken part in the conversation yet. “Juul?” Jasmine asks, but Julia just stares blankly. Thijs immediately puts a protective arm in front of Jasmine, forcing her to back off. “Julia. State your name.” He commands, but he gets no reply. Julia moves her head up to look at him. She slowly opens her mouth, and all that’s heard is a raspy breath. Jasmine has considered Thijs someone who would know what he was doing around these tox creatures, but the absolute horror and surprise that was all over his face proved her thoughts wrong. Thijs glanced to his side, locking eyes with the boy with a bloody shirt. “I can’t do this- you know that,” Thijs explained, and the bloody shirt guy sighs. All Felix could really do is just stare at the scene in horror, holding his hand in front of his mouth. He watched with wide eyes as the tall boy took hold of Julia’s head, and pressing his knife through one of her eye sockets all the way to the hilt.  
Jasmine instinctively looked away, letting out a scared whimper. The other kids from 8 D reacted more of the same. Some of the girls let out sobs before Julia’s lifeless body could even fall down limply, the boy with the knife caught her, and picked her up with ease. Julia is pretty tiny and skinny, anyway. He had no issue carrying her up bridal style, attempting not to look down at her. Thijs shuddered, visibly flinching at the cries of the girls for their lost friend.  
“How were you sure she turned?” “Are you sure it happens like that?” “We couldn’t say goodbye!” Thijs tries to ignore them, clearly not being able to handle any more stress right now. “We’ll bring her body to the Greek and Latin classrooms on the fourth floor, that’s where we left all of them. For now, at least…” Thijs continues to explain whatever choices they’ve made around the school. But most students have stopped listening. The ground under Felix starts to sway, as he starts to get dizzy from the mere smell and thought of the event that has just happened. Jasmine appeared more than traumatised; eyes closed tightly and looking away. “Jas?” Felix asks, and Jasmine glances up, visibly shaking. “I don’t know if I can go up there-.” She admits.  
“You’ll be fine, there are lots of people protecting you up there, remember?” Felix opens his arms, offering her a hug which she gladly takes. “I’m sure that someday you can just be in the downstairs area like the rest of us.” 

“...A bird is flying above the earth,  
Where only memories are inherent,  
Of those wonderful times,  
Where everything was different...”

* * *

Felix and Kat have found Kallisto and Bobbie on his way downstairs. “Did you guys see the thing with Julia-?” Felix asks hesitantly, and Kallie answers with an acknowledging groan. “I don’t like thinking about it.” She says “None of us really do.” They don’t talk as much as they usually do when walking down this huge staircase. It unsettles them in a way that’s kind of impossible to describe.  
Felix was the last to arrive downstairs. He quickly joined the others in staring into the cafeteria. The room was more of a bustle than usually. People were shoving around tables and chairs- it was all so loud. It contrasted painfully against the silence that their ears have grown so accustomed to over the last couple of hours. The four kids found themselves standing still for longer than originally intended. Eventually, Vincent came down the stairs, closely followed by Patrick and Luca. “Standing around has no use,” Vince said, giving Kallisto a not-so-gentle pat on the back to pull her along. If he was grieving in any way he was _really_ good at hiding it. Then again, if anything, Vincent wasn’t a crier. 

Felix stood there somewhat baffled as the other boys entered the cafeteria without any further hesitation. “Guess he’s right,” he says, and Katinka nods. Kallisto is the first to enter the room. “Maybe we can find some of our friends. Albert, September, and all of the kids from 9 E just to name a few.” She added, striding into the cafeteria. Felix, Kat, and Bobbie followed closely. 

“...A bird is flying above the earth,  
He lost himself and all his men  
Not sure what he’ll be able to do,  
Until he finds them all again…”

* * *

Jasmine steps into a room similar to a study hall with a stage. Usually, the gym and this room would be divided by a big curtain. Right now that curtain was lifted though, creating one huge room. Her eyes fell on yet another student with a notebook, scribbling in it somewhat quickly. She decided to walk up to him. “Hi, do you have any idea how long we have to stay up here?” She asks somewhat hesitantly, but all she gets in reply is a shrug. “I’m not really in charge here, I just keep track of the names. Good that you’re here though- what’s your name again?” He asks, and Jasmine replies with her full name.  
“Good, good. I’m Julian. If you need anything you can ask me. It’s my job to take care of the uh-” Julian gestures vaguely. “The Infected. You might find someone we know. With you, we’ve got 20 people up here already. Give or take.”

Jasmine nodded. SHe fiddled with the cuffs of her sleeves as she observed the area. Since she didn’t recognise anyone in the study area, she continued to wonder to the gym. Where, in a corner, she saw Mare, Mirre, and Samuel. They were sitting on one of those big blue matrass-like things. “Hey guys!” she exclaimed, quicky walking the rest of her way to them. “Hey Jasmine,” Mirre offered with an exhausted smile.  
“I’m so glad I’m not the only one here-,” Jasmines says, sitting down on the edge of the mat. “Technically there’s a bunch of people here-” “You know what I’m trying to say!”

* * *


	3. Morning Routines

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so this is proofread only ONCE!!! And this is my first draft!  
> This is _so_ not the best I can do-. But I promised you guys something on Friday so here it is!
> 
> Thijs and the other 11th graders are NOT real people by the way! They're made up :)  
> (Are Jonah in this story and Jonah Bennet the same person? Perhaps. You could see him as an au version of himself???)
> 
> Finally- if you're not in this one- I AM SORRY. I am trying to include as many people as possible if you're not in this one- you'll 100% be featured in the next!!
> 
> (Comments make me happy, comment and I'll probably remember to put you in the next one way easier ;) )
> 
> OH AND BTW THIS IS ALL IN PAST TENSE SO I AM SOOO SORRY IF I ACCIDENTALLY MADE SOME STUFF PRESENT TENSE IT JUST KINDA HAPPENS SOMETIMES.

“So. I can imagine everyone being in uh-. Shock. Yeah, that’s the right word. Because this absolutely absurd thing happened and now we have to deal with this. And you know what? We are going to be able to do that! We’re not idiots; we know how to act in the face of a crisis. Besides, if we’re lucky, the horde from Central Station will be eradicated before they’ll even reach this part of the city! So if you think about it-” 

“That will be enough, Jonah, thank you.”

In little time the cafeteria has been transformed into something that could be mistaken for a refugee centre. All the way in the ‘back’ people created a tiny stage out of tables, which would be used for announcements or whatever a stage would be needed for. Thijs alongside the original group of 11th graders were standing there. Now that Felix had the chance to count them he realised there were five of them. 

Thijs, who has obviously been the leader of this entire operation, was gazing down at the sea of students and teachers below him. His eyes scan over the crowd; one person more nervous than the other. People were in tears, hugging each other, and looking up at him with hopeful eyes. He did _not_ sign up for anything like this. “So. I believe it would only be appropriate for us to introduce ourselves.” Thijs announced, stepping aside and vaguely gesturing to the group of teens. “From left to right these are Susannah, Jacob, Jonah, and Daphne. We also have two others, - Mitch and Tirsa-, they’re currently upstairs explaining the same thing to the infected.” He takes a short break, nodding to himself. “We, of course, aren’t planning on being your ‘leaders’, or whatever you might assume. All we did was take action when we had to. So-” A kid from the crowd yelled “Anarchy!” There was a short wave of laughter which was quickly interrupted by Thijs’ voice; “No! No no no-. This is going to be a democratic system. We will talk about what needs to be done and get it done. This is not going to be messy- but organised. Or at least we’ll try that.” 

Jacob stepped forward. “Basically- We’re thinking of having a sort of council. Consisting of both teachers and students. Similar to the ‘platform’ we were planning on doing anyway. We’ll have certain people in charge of certain categories. Like we’ll have people in charge of the outside patrols and supply runs-.” A murmur went through the crowd, everyone glancing at each other in a worried manner. Were they going to have to go outside? It just felt dangerous. “Don’t worry.” Jacob assured them, “I’ll be in charge of the outside- I have been around tox for longer than most of you guys anyway.” Daphne nonchalantly pushed Jacob away, announcing that “I am in charge of the food and other inventory! Keeping track of things and making sure that everyone gets equal supplies. Remember that nothing is 'yours'- I believe that in this world we should share everything we have.” Jacob gives her a sideways glance “Sounds like communist propaganda but okay-.” Jonah decided to also speak up, “I’m in charge of morale-. Well okay, not in charge- more self-assigned? I don’t know- I’m just trying to be a positive kind of person I-.”

Thijs sighs, rolling his eyes. “We haven’t decided on any roles yet. It’s just how things are going to be for now. I’m assuming some changes are going to be made though-. That being said- are there any objections to any of this? Because if there are speak up!”  
Everyone looked at each other for a brief moment, but no one was really able to say anything. This sounded somewhat well-worked out, and everyone was either still in too much panic or worry to really say anything. Even the most sceptical of teachers decided to keep quiet.

It was silent for a good moment, the group of 11th graders exchanging surprised glances. Apparently, they assumed for there to be some sort of objections. Jacob clasped his hands together. “Alright then! For today we were planning on doing a small couple of things. And that would kind of divide you all into different categories- So-.” He expected for Thijs to take over but Thijs just gave him an odd glance for stopping. “Right-. We’ll have a formal election tonight. So anyone who thinks they’re in any way qualified to have a say around here go to Thijs. He’ll be in charge of formalities tonight.  
“I will find a group of more athletic students to be ‘runners’. People who are the ones going outside- again, supply runs, looking for other survivors, for whatever we might need someone outside. Daphne over here- she is, as she already told you,” He gave her _another_ mean glance. There must be some personal quarrel between these two. “Is in charge of inventory. So anyone who’s happy with staying right here and helping out can come to her. You’d also be making food and keeping the place organised. Don’t think this is something easy though- you guys would be kind of ‘in charge’ of the building itself. And that’s a huge amount of _responsibility_.  
“Then, Sanne over here is going to be our doctor. She’s not an actual professional, duh-. But she’s been working towards something like that and has been working at a vet for- how long-?” “Four months or so?” “ **Four months or so!** She will be on the third floor most of the time, which, bee tee dubs, will be our hospital. God knows we need one-. She’s going to need some sort of apprentices and people to help around up there. Though, right now we don’t have that much of an issue with that.  
“Finally! Mitch and Tirs upstairs have been dealing with the infected and with the dead. They don’t need that much more help, but they’re really sweet and though you won’t see them around they deserve some love because what they’re doing is super scary and dangerous.” 

For a second everything made sense. This was a lot to take in but it made sense nonetheless. Felix looks around for his friends, wondering what they were going to be choosing to do around here. After all, everyone would have to play their part somehow. However, that would, of course, be too easy. Because suddenly some frantic footsteps on the wooden and much smaller staircase are heard. Until eventually a very scared looking girl threw the doors open. “Tirsa?” Jonah inquires. “Are you okay?” he hopped off of the ‘stage’ and rushed to the girl who looked up at him worriedly. “Sanne- I need Sanne-!” And thought Jonah was about to ask why he noticed the not-so-subtle bite in the crook of Tirsa’s neck. “How-” “Mitch was able to fight the Tox off but I- I'm so scared, Jonah!”  
Susannah quickly hopped off the stage as well, and the three of them left the cafeteria in a rush. And just like that, the mood went back to full-on panic. Which one of the infected had turned Tox? Were there several? Is Tirsa going to die? Daphne scribbled something onto the notebook she was still holding, shaking her head. She didn’t seem to be grieving though. Thijs, who honestly had no idea how to deal with so many problems like these. “Okay. Silence-. Anyone who thinks they can help Sanne in any way get up there. Anyone who wishes to do something else- you know where to go.” He vaguely gestures between the group of 11th graders. “Just please stay calm.”

Felix was a little blown away by the sudden explosion of people chatting with each other. It was a lot of sounds and everyone seemed either very excited or very scared. There already was a tiny group of kids just sitting on the ground together and crying. Which honestly could have been expected- lots of people were lost already. But lots of students already grew somewhat accustomed to that over the span of the last couple of weeks. This illness has claimed many lives. 

“So, any idea what you guys wanna do?” Kallie asks, glancing at the small group of kids. “I think I want to be a runner.” Kat immediately said. It made sense; she’s pretty energetic and athletic.” Felix considered for a moment and nodded. “Yeah, me too. I have been taking up running, anyway. I’m not _that_ fast, but not utterly useless either.” Kallisto gave both of them a questioning look. “If you say so. But I really don’t think that’s something for me. I’m better off doing something inside… Besides, I’d be a shit runner. Maybe I could help the infected…” She turns to Bobbie, who has been somewhat silent, again. Bobbie apparently didn’t expect the sudden attention and just shrugs. “Oh uh okay-- I mean I don’t know- I mean I didn’t really listen-.” 

She seemed to panic a little, but suddenly two kids appeared from behind one of the central pillars. “Guys!” Ties exclaim, kick following closely. “I am so glad that you’re okay! Any idea where Albert and the others are? Are they okay?” He asks a little too loudly, and a little too quickly. Kallie considers what to say for a moment, then explains that they haven’t really found anyone from any of the other classes yet. But that Jasmine has been infected and is upstairs. Both of the boys seem upset. Kick eventually decided that “we should probably find the others.” The group agrees and decides to venture around in the big hall of students. It was somewhat hard to get around, but they managed nonetheless. Felix noticed Vincent, Luca, and some other people chatting amongst each other it made him wonder whatever they'd be up to. He'd find out soon enough- Right now it was important to find out if Albert, Sophie, and everyone else would be okay.

"Sophie!" Katinka exclaimed as she saw the group of 9th graders sitting in a circle. “Hey, guys!” Femke greeted them. Felix decides to join them on the floor, and so did the others eventually. God, he felt terrible for not having been around these people so much in the past couple of weeks. He feels as if he barely recognises the class. Which, of course, could also be due to the events kind of shaking everyone up. “How are you guys? Everyone okay?” Katinka immediately asks. Sophie made a bit of an ‘Ehh…’ sound, shrugging. Femke shrugged, also. “I don’t really know. I mean, we are okay-. But Mare and Mirre are infected.” she explained, the words clearly giving her some sort of discomfort. “Well, do you guys know what you’re going to do to help around here?” Felix asks, to which both nod. “I think being a runner could be fun.” Sophie says, “And Femke thought about being a med. She has been planning on doing something like that later in her life, anyway.” 

The group continued to discuss for a little while until they eventually heard Jacob’s voice boom over the crowd; “Any runners available please ELEPHANT here! I got a mission for you guys!” 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tirsa rushed downstairs after she was bitten, all Jasmine could really do was watch in horror yet again as Mitch took quick care of. She hugged her torso, glancing away. She flinched as she heard the thud of the body dropping the floor. She didn't know the boy who turned, not well, at least. He's one of those people that you sometimes just see in the hallway and remember for some reason. "I hate this-." She muttered to herself, Mare and Mirre humming in agreement. They have been sitting around on the big mat for longer than first intended. They got a short speech from these two kids, Mitch and Tirsa, who were still around upstairs. Sure, it was all fine and dandy that they've made this plan, but it sucked to be infected and useless. No one has yet figured out how to deal with the infected. Having them roam the school just seemed a little too dangerous right now, but locking them up in one big area sucked, too. 

Jasmine let herself fall into a lying down position, gazing up at the ceiling. If she really tried to focus, this could feel like any normal gym lesson. She could kind of imagine the bustle around her, kids screaming and balls being kicked against people's faces. It was nice to think about. But the second she heard Mitch yell "Could anyone of you guys help me carrying this body?" The illusion was gone as quickly as it came. 

“It really sucks to just sit around and do nothing,” Mare complained. “I really want to be able to help people but now we’re just forced to sit here and do nothing.” Mirre nodded. "I agree, I know I'm infected and all but I like to think that I can still help around as a nurse or something." 

Jasmine got up again, feeling as though she wanted to both lie-down and cry and run a marathon at the same time. She looked at all of the other infected students. The mood around there was about the same as on death row. “Maybe we should make use of all the gym equipment?” She eventually suggested, twirling around to look back at the two other girls. “We could pull out the rings, a soccer ball, something to climb on-. It could raise the morale around here!" She exclaimed, her eyes shining with confidence. She was pretty used to exercising a lot, so this would be a perfect way to do something that won't make her lose all the muscle she worked so hard for.  
The two other girls seemed to be a little sceptical but soon agreed that it could be a beneficial thing. And so, they got up to get to work.

Mirre went over to Mitch and Julian who were absent-mindedly watching the infected students do whatever. She explained what Jasmine was planning on doing, and why. Neither of the boys saw any problem with that as long as they wouldn't have to do any work for it themselves. Mirre assured them that Mare, Jasmine, and she would take care of things.

Jasmine was happy to know that her plan has gotten approval, and she managed to transform the gym into a more lively place in only a couple of minutes with the help of the other two. It also didn't take long for other students to notice what the girls were up to, and soon more people joined in on moving around everything. 

Jasmine was more than happy with the result; a bunch of kids actually playing around, and not sitting on the floor as if their some edge lord. Most kids up there were younger, anyway. Which made sense; younger kids eat the cafeteria food. Jasmine hopped onto one of those blue cubes, feeling satisfied with her work. She considered joining the kids- but she decided against it. She already was somewhat worn out, anyway.  
Mare walked over to her and sat down on the cube next to her. “Holy guacamole. We actually did something pretty good!” She said as if just now realising it.  
Jasmine nodded in reply. “Hey, any idea where Mirre might be?” She asks, and Mare waves in the general direction of where Julian and Mitch were usually standing. “Yeah, she’s pretty set on helping out on the third floor. So she’s asking if she’s allowed to do so.”  
"Ohh nice! I hope she'll be allowed to! I would miss her up here- but I'm convinced she'd be a great help to uh- Susannah was her name?"  
"Yeah, that. It would be kind of odd for them to deny her help though, right?"  
From there on out their conversation spirals to a different topic. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Alright runners!” Jacob happily said, seeing the impressive group of people in front of him. “I am so happy to see that so many people are willing to risk their lives for the sake of the school. For our first and most important mission, I think we should pay our local supermarkets a quick visit, no?” He grabs a map that was made by poorly glueing together some lined paper, and scribbling down the streets in the area. “I don’t know if you guys ever realised this- But we are super lucky with our setting. We got three supermarkets close- here- here- and here-.” He draws tiny circles around the two Albert Heijn’s and one Spar. The last of those being the furthest away by far. “There’s a medical supply store over here-, some appliance stores here and there - and a small number of drug stores. It’s important that we hit all of them today seen as they’ll probably be gone this morning.” 

Someone in the small group raises his hand, “Wait- we’re stealing things-?” He asked, and Jacob quickly shook his head. “No no no - there’s an official emergency status, which means all of these stores will be closed anyway- and I doubt that the rules of how it was before really apply anymore.” 

Felix gazed down at the map. He never really realised that there were so many important stores so close to the school. Sure, those supermarkets were well-known thanks to literally everyone going there during lunch break. “All of you should take bags with you- we found trash bags in the teacher’s lounge which I’ll give you guys once there are groups.” After Jacob said that he started making groups of 5 or so people, assigning them to a district around the school. He made sure certain friends would stick together, eventually grouping together Katinka, Felix, Sophie, Vincent and Patrick. Jacob gave Patrick three trash bags. “You guys are going to run up the Wiboutstraat, heading to the Spar. There’s an Itemz where you guys can pick up whatever you think might be necessary- books, clocks, mugs-. Someday we’ll go there with a bigger group to maybe grab a couch or something. Go further until you’re at Weesperplein- there should be a bike repair shop. Pick up some spare parts in case we’ll ever need any. Your return route is via the Amstel, again. There are plenty of restaurants and cafe’s on your route. Your main task is to bring back cooking utensils and ingredients so we can all have a half decent dinner.” He explained, vaguely gesturing to the map. The kids knew the area though, so they knew they’d be fine. “Ay, thanks. We won’t disappoint.” Patrick said, giving Jacob a confident grin. “I know you won't.” 

And with that, the five kids left. Though they had the title of ‘runner’, they could easily spend some of the route walking. “So, our first stop should be… That bakery, right? Ugh, I would kill for some freshly baked bread right now-.” Felix rambled, looking out for the store he was talking about. The entire Wiboutstraat was a bit of a mess; full with cars, and kind of hard to get to the other side.  
“I think so,” Sophie said, already spotting the tiny store. “Let’s go then.” The store was empty- no one in sight. Without any hesitation, Felix went behind the counter. It gave him a somewhat warm feeling- he used to always help around the bakery that his family owned. And this was kind of like that. Katinka looked around in the big shelves, deciding to dump some of the bread on display into the trash bag she had. “Let’s fill two of the bags with food, and one with other stuff.” She suggested, and the rest of the group agreed.  
Felix grabbed some of the paper bags from under the counter and started filling them with the pastries on display, feeling some sort of need to sort them.  
Vincent has disappeared in one of the back rooms, though eventually came back empty-handed. Patrick was stuck looking at the cash register. “You know… With the apocalypse and everything… We could literally burn money.” He realised, attempting to force the thing open. Felix shooed him away and pressed a couple of buttons; making the cash register open with a ‘ka-ching’ sound.* “Help yourself.” He said as he helped Katinka with loading up their trashbag with more bread. Patrick shrugged, stuffing the money into his coat, and the rest into his bag.  
Sophie cocked her head to the side. “You don’t think that’s a waste of space and effort? I mean- I get that burning money is fun but-.” Before she could finish her statement, Vincent noticed what Patrick was up to and joined in on it. So much for not wasting space. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mirre swiftly went down the stairs to the third floor. She had a certain feeling of excitement. She was actually doing something good! Mitch and Julian didn’t mind her helping out in what was now dubbed the ‘med wing’ of the school, and it made her endlessly happy that she could help out there.  
She peeked into the different rooms- biology, physics, science, all of those classrooms much bigger than the standard ones, seen as these were more like a lab. She eventually notices bitten Tirsa lying on one of the tables in 303. Femke sitting next to her. She enters the room, peeking inside. “Hey! How are you?” She asked though, the look on Tirsa’s face was answer enough. “I mean I have a gaping wound on my neck which will probably kill me within the next hour or so but besides that I’m splendid.” She replied, and Mirre flinched a little. 

“Ahh- Right. Sorry for asking-. Do you have any idea where Sanne is?”  
“She’s in the Chem lab,” Tirsa replied, vaguely gesturing in that direction.  
“Thank you so much! Is there anything I could get for you- are there painkillers around here?”  
“Already got a couple of those. I’ll be fine-.”  
Mirre gave a quick nod to Femke, who waved back somewhat somberly. 

Mirre closed the door, sighing. What a great start. She made her way to the chem lab. ‘Try numero duos’ she thought to herself, opening the door. She found Sanne in front o the whiteboard, talking to a small group of students who were sitting at the tables. It kind of reminded Mirre of normal lessons- which was something she, like many others, deeply missed.  
“Hey, I don’t think I’ve seen you around before,” Sanne says, giving Mirre a warm smile. “It’s so good of you to join us! We can use all the help we can get! Of course, there are not that many issues quite yet- but as soon as those runners are back, we will actually have something to work with!” There was an odd pause. “Medicine, I mean! They’re getting medicine-! To think I would refer to them as fatal accidents waiting to happen-.” 

Mirre sits down in the back, recognising the student next to her as Valerie. Sanne continues what she was talking about. “Alright then, as I have said before this is going to be a little meeting to kind of collect our knowledge about tox. That way we will know what to do with them! After that I can teach you guys some _very_ basic first aid, and we’ll be able to get through at least one week of this hellscape.” 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Samuel sneaked downstairs, managing to escape from the ‘infected persons area’ which still doesn’t really have a name. He enters the cafeteria and notices someone who looked like the description of Jacob talking to a group of kids. “Hey friend, sorry I’m late.” He said, joining the group of kids listening to Jacob. Who honestly didn’t seem to mind Samuel showing up. “The more people the better, right?” Jacob said, glancing down at a small list, then up at Samuel. For a second Sam wonders if Jacob might have a list of the infected. But even if he did, the older teen didn’t even mention it. 

“Well, we could use another runner for the big supermarket across the street- if you would be willing to-.” “Yes.” Jacob was a bit taken aback by the determination, but sure as hell didn’t mind it.  
And so Sam, alongside six other runners, made his way to the supermarket. The group ended up having to via the metro station seen as the entire road was full of empty cars. Ties, who had decided to join in on this one supply run, (seen as it wasn’t far or anything) gave the cars a curious look. “Don’t you think that we should also check out all of those cars sometime? Everything that’s inside them was packed by people who wanted to flee the city. So it would make sense that there are useful things in there, right?”  
Samuel nodded, shrugging. “You’re right. Though right now we should focus on the task at hand. We got a whole supermarket to raid! I’ll definitely be making dinner tonight-. How does a good ‘ol heart stew sound?”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Daphne has created a tiny army of people who were willing to help her out. God, she loved this power. The plan is to clean out all bags and sort out what might be useful. Lunches were brought to where the food is kept- books and laptops were all dumped in the teacher’s lounge. And whatever could be useful is put aside. Things like notebooks and pens- gym clothes and whatever. A different group was in charge of filling up all the water bottles they had with water from the sinks. Who could know how much longer drinkable water is going to come from the sinks? For now, it was important to get as much of it as possible. 

Kick, Kallie, Bobbie, Albert, and some others were all looking through the bags, looking for anything useful. Kick eventually grabbed something from some dark looking back bag; a pocket knife. “Hey, Daph-” Kallisto shut him up by holding her hand in front of his mouth. “Don’t tell her you found that. The food and stuff- sure. But that thing can be so much more useful in your own hands. Give it to one of our runner friends later on, okay?” She asks, and he silently nods, putting it in his pocket. “Good point- I don’t like the thought of keeping a secret though-.” He admitted, and Kallisto sighs. “I get that-. I just don’t really trust Daphne I guess. There’s something about her… She seems a bit power hungry, don’t you think?” She asked when suddenly Daphne appears behind the two. “Hey. So since Bobbie has gone back to the cafeteria for now-. You guys are also free to rest or whatever. Though I would really prefer it if we could get through all of these by tonight so we can give them to our runners first thing tomorrow. So…. Chop chop.” 

Kallie fakes a smile, then turns back to Kick. “You have got to see what I’m talking about, right?” She asks, and Kick just shrugs. “I don’t know- she seems nice. I honestly don’t see your issue with her. Though that thing between her and Jacob- I wonder what that was all about.” He answers, and Kallie nods. “There’s definitely something weird going on between those two. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Are you guys able to keep up?” Katinka yelled, the group of runners sprinting along the Amstel. Everything was all fine and dandy until an actual group of Tox came from one of the side streets.  
“I think so,” Sophie yelled in reply, though everyone’s limbs were already aching. They have been sprinting for longer than comfort, and these tox were not going to slow down anytime soon. That was the problem with tox; they were somewhat fast. No slow shuffle- but a pretty quick running speed. Especially when there’s a delicious five-course meal in front of them just waiting to be devoured. 

From what Felix could tell, there must be more than half a dozen of them. And having to carry fully packed trash bags really didn’t help the situation. “Wouldn’t it be wrong to lead these to the school?” he questioned and got no clear reply.  
Partick shook his head. “I don’t know-. If they’ll just close the gates behind us we should be fine?” He assumed, now breathing a little heavier. Talking and running was a terrible combination. 

Vincent’s eyes fell on an alley, maybe just big enough to run into. “There!” He explained, gesturing in its general direction. Katinka, who was a little ahead of the group, saw it and decided to just try and run in there. She was able to easily hide in it, though, to her dismay, it was a literal dead end. “Oh, no-.” She said, but the others were already behind her, panting as if they just ran a marathon.  
“What do you mean ‘oh no.’?” Felix questioned, looking up. And as his eyes fell on the stone wall in front of him- he heard a low growl behind him.

 

*Yes. Old cash registers make that sound and it is awesome.


	4. Everything goes wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> see chapter title.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might've noticed the 'ELEPHANT' in the past story. It's a thing I use to beta my stories - when I can't think of a certain word I just throw an elephant in there and then get back to them once I'm done with the general story. Sorry for leaving them in.
> 
> Also, yes. When using a they/them pronouns I just act as if it's singular. I don't care if it's wrong or not. I do it that way and I'm not going to stop doing it that way. (They was walking - instead of - they were walking)  
> Fictional characters added in this chapter:  
> >Daniel  
> >Bink
> 
> Non-Fictional characters added in this chapter:  
> >Nienke  
> >September  
> >Nathaniel  
> >Sarah  
> >Meike

_“Let your hopes, not your hurts shape future.”_  
-Robert H. Schiller

Felix could feel his guts twisting in discomfort, the situation seemed helpless. Were they going to die? Was this it? The apocalypse has barely started yet! Society had just crumbled and he was the next to go. 'Damnit' he thought, he wasn't going to deny that he secretly always hoped to have to live in a situation like this. Fighting to survive, not for the praise and recognition of other people that he didn't even really care about. His eyes quickly fly over the other people in his running group. Most of them seemed to have the same look of desperation on their face. 'Since when does Amsterdam even have dead ends?' Felix wondered to himself, never having seen architecture like this in this part of the city. His heart continued to race as he considered his options. Whatever it was going to be he wasn't going to just accept his fate. "Okay- guys. _Someone_ do _something_ ," he begged, realising how meaningless the words were. 

"No fucking shit," Vincent growled in reply. Though it did seem to have sparked something because Vincent's eyes suddenly fell on an old bike that was poorly locked up against a drainpipe. It was rusty, and pretty much falling apart. The city was full of them. Without a second thought, Vincent reached for the steering wheel of the bike and yanked it off of the rest of the construction with more force than necessary. In a quick movement, he uses it to hit one of the Tox on the head. Not enough to kill it, though the creature fell to the ground.  
Patrick saw that as a chance and quickly stomped onto its head, successfully crushing its skull. He felt like celebrating this small victory, but more Tox were coming quicker than he could count them. 

Felix was too busy being disturbed with the corpse on the floor to think of a solution. If the still very human-like look didn't manage to disgust the living hell out of him it must've been the smell. He hated feeling useless like this. He looked around in the hope of finding something that was an equally effective weapon as the broken bike, but he failed to find anything.  
Sophie however, was rummaging through the trash bag she was carrying with her. It was only half full, but -as Felix has found out- still too heavy to easily carry. 'At what stores had she mainly scavenged, again?' Felix wondered, trying to remember the route the five of them had walked. When Sophie pulled a beautiful glass vial from her bag he immediately remembered the shop called Itemz - some secondhand store that sold a myriad of trash no one actually needs -. They picked up some of the glass bottles, a container to carry water in can always be useful. Sophie took the bottle by the neck, taking a second to gather herself before smashing the bottom of the bottle against the wall with enough strength to shatter it, the bottle now ending in mean looking sparks. Felix didn't fail to catch the glimpse of extreme horror on Sophie's face before she dashed forward to press the sharp object into the head of one of the Tox. The spikes easily pressed through its eye sockets and the reanimated corpse was a corpse once more. The girl was visibly shaking as she pulled her weapon out of her victim's skull. "What the fuck-." She whispered under her breath. She was trembling at the thought of having to do that again. _'Another traumatic event to add to the books'_ , she thought before dashing forward again to do the same again.

A glance to the right told Felix that Vincent managed to knock more Tox down, Patrick assisting with bashing in any of their skulls if that was necessary. Felix was kind of hoping Katinka might have something in her bag but remembered now that she was the one carrying mainly food. Nothing that could kill a Tox. This leads to Katinka and Felix just kind of standing there in horror as the other three managed to actually effectively beat those creatures.  
The brunet stared in disbelief as the five teens were now standing around 8 corpses. "What the fuck!?" He exclaimed, more than surprised to 1) be alive and 2) to see that everyone else was only minimally hurt.  
Vincent shot him an annoyed glance, "yell some more and soon we'll have another twenty of those things coming our way." He remarked sarcastically, which caused Felix to just look away in embarrassment. 

Katinka shook her head, equally stunned. "No-. I mean-. I get it. What the fuck." She repeated, though a lot quieter and almost scarily calm.  
The group took a long while to properly calm down, everyone trembling for several different reasons. "I wouldn't have guessed they would still look so human like..." Patrick said. If it was directed to himself or others wasn't quite clear. Felix could've probably thought of a reply, but was too busy being disturbed to muster any words besides "We should get back." 

It took them about two more minutes before they managed to slowly head towards the school again. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Okay boys and girls. Listen up and listen good." Daphne spoke up, a strict gaze was burning onto the students who were still sorting through the seemingly endless supply of bags. "Once you're done with this batch we need to start moving all of this to somewhere that is not the school entrance. I'm already sick of tripping over whatever you guys leave lying in the way." A murmur that was just as annoyed as Daphne's tone went through the students, Daphne ignored it. "I got a small team moving stuff around upstairs; the first floor is going to be our supply floor for now. They're stacking tables to make them into shelves. You should be able to reach all the way up when standing on a chair or something-. I'd like for some of you to move the food to 117 and 115, the empty bags can be dropped in 120." She glances at her clipboard. "Pens, books, paper- whatever useless trash we had to haul to school and back for years now can all be dumped in 118 and 116. Clothes can be dumped in the ‘After s’ Cool’ and ICT rooms. Finally, whatever other stuff students could've been carrying around- matches, lighters, knives, condoms, female hygiene products- bring those to 113. Don't mess it up. If you weren't paying attention or have the memory of a goldfish- I have to give the clipboard back to Thijs. I have some errands to run." Without waiting for anyone to ask questions, she disappears in the cafeteria. 

"Bitch-," Kallie grumbles, hating the tone Daphne was using to talk to the group of students helping her. It reminded her of her dad in a way- that patronising tone he'd use to remind her that she was just a stupid kid. It pissed her off more than it should. She has been rummaging around in the gross bags all day, sitting on the dirty floor. Having to listen to Daphne talk just made everything worse. Kallisto thought back to all of the things she's found up to now. For this being a preparatory school, the students were carrying a bunch of rather questionable items with them. She even found about a dozen stuffed animals. It gave her some nostalgia to Beertje, her stuffed bear. Too bad she lost him so recently. 'A bunch of students must have been looking for a sense of comfort in times like these, and didn't want to abandon that at home' she reasoned. 

Kick noticed her sad expression and offered a smile. "Hey, we'll be fine. How about we start carrying up some of the piles of the fruit and lunches and such?” He didn’t know Kallisto that well, though the two did get to know each other somewhat well during the morning. Kick didn’t like seeing his friends sad, though, and figured that some distraction could help.  
Kallisto glanced at Bobbie, who instead of working was just fiddling with the sleeves of her hoodie. Ever since stuff around here got more serious Bobbie’s fallen more silent. Kal grabs the lunchbox form the bag she was holding and gets up. “Fine. Let’s go.” Kick got up after her, and once Kallie nudged Bobbie’s side to pull her back to reality- Bobbie got up too. 

-

All three of them had more than one bag slung over their shoulders, filled with fruit and lunchboxes students have been carrying around. Kick opens the door to 117, the room has been transformed into nothing more than a pantry. The thing that once was the teacher’s desk has been pushed into the corner next to the door. A big sheet of paper was lying on it with some pencils and erasers. The three figured that it was meant to keep track of what would be stored here.  
They started to sort everything into the ‘shelves’ that consisted of three tables stacked on top each other, rows of which were against both the one wall and the window side. The blinds were closed a little- enough to let the light in- not enough to look outside. ‘Good’ Kallisto thought, ‘No one wants to see whatever the hell is happening outside.’. When looking around again she notices that the pride flag was still hanging where it previously has. She didn’t mention it to anyone but it made her smile. It helped her remember the fun times she’s had with the GSA in this room. 

“Kind of surprising how much there is. And all of this from -what?- 70 of the bags? We have about six times this much still lying downstairs.” He sighs, clearly not looking forward to the work ahead.  
Bobbie shrugged, she felt like adding something to the conversation but she honestly couldn’t think of anything of worth that she could say. 

Kallisto emptied her last bag and scribbled a couple of numbers on the inventory sheet near the door. “Standing around won’t get the job done. Let’s get going.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ties pushed his shopping cart through the nearly empty supermarket. He couldn’t help but be surprised by how quickly it was abandoned by the owner. He ran a little, jumping up and just letting himself be pulled further by the shopping cart. It was a childish action but it’s not like anyone cared- heck he would’ve done that apocalypse or not. His eyes finally fell on the candy aisle. He walks in, considering his options. His eyes first automatically go to the price tags, but then remembers that those don’t matter. Instead, he just parks the cart next to the shelves and proceeds to push as many of the plastic bags into the cart as is humanly possible in one go. 

Samuel, who has been dubbed the ‘supervisor’ of this scavenging group by himself, gives him a questioning look. He fails to hide the glint of amusement in his eyes. “I get your point. But maybe also put some more useful things in there.” He noted, continuing to walk to the next aisle over with his own shopping cart. As much as Sam would’ve loved to fill his cart with only instant noodles- he knows for a fact that rope, matches, candles, and other things found in this area of the store were a little more important. He could imagine those things disappearing soon. He’s quite surprised that no one else was in here. He didn’t like the thought of having strangers - who might or might not be hostile towards the students - in here.  
Once satisfied with his collection of practicalities, Sam goes back to the main hallway of the store. The next thing in his field of vision is the wine section. He walks in. Most of the really expensive wine is gone- but since this was no time to be picky Sam just grabbed five bottles of whatever seemed fancy enough. He might be underage but he was going to be damned if he was going to die without having been properly drunk. Besides - the older students and teachers could probably use it as a way to soothe their nerves a little.  
The rest of the cart he filled with whatever junk he could find. 

Eventually, it was about time that the group met up outside. Everyone had carts filled with something more or less useful-. One of the sixth graders - some small kid called Bink - just filled his cart with seeds, a couple of decorative plants, and a literal mountain of fruits and veggies.  
A girl that introduced herself as Nienke had hers filled with female hygiene products, medicine, gluten-free food, and those blankets that the store would sell every now and then.  
The oldest of the group, and the sixth grader’s brother - Daniel - had a cart filled with packed salads and sandwiches, the rest was mostly whatever fruit the small kid had left over.  
Another boy who Sam actually knew - Nathaniel, had filled his cart with only water. It was by far the heaviest.  
A girl called September had her cart filled with cans and other non-perishables.  
Finally, Ties with his candy cart. Ever wonder what stacks upon stacks of Milka chocolate bars look like? Damn delicious. 

“Not bad, boys,” Sam said, clearly more than content with the array of food. The next challenge was going to be getting these carts across the road. There was no way in hell they’d attempt to move these things downstairs and then up some stairs again. It would take forever. 

September moved ahead, trying to find a place where they could squeeze the shopping carts between the cars. They did find a space- they’d have to lift them up just a little bit to fully get them past, though. This task proved to be much easier said than done. The lighter carts were passed without a hassle. Nienke’s, September’s, Sam’s, Ties’. They had already started moving them across the second part of the road when they started on Daniel and Bink’s. They’ve agreed to do the water cart last with at least four of them doing it together. 

“Okay, Bink- I’ll keep the front up if you and Daniel can start pushing from over there,” Nienke said, grabbing a hold of the metal cart.  
The two boys started pushing, carefully lifting the cart up once it left the grass ‘island’ in the middle of the road. Bink’s cart was stacked with several fruits that could rather easily just roll out if they would just do the slightest misstep - that is when Bink didn’t look where he was walking. He tripped but managed to quickly gather himself. A couple of oranges toppled out of the cart and landed in one of the cars through an open roof. “Shit-. I’m sorry. I’ll go get it-.” “Wait. Not until we’re done carrying this thing.” Daniel quickly interrupted. “Besides - we can miss that one handful.” 

Despite Daniel’s reasoning, Bink still wanted to collect the lost fruits. The two older kids let him do whatever- as they themselves left to help Nathaniel and the others with the water cart.  
Bink walked over to the car, sighing when he noticed the door to be locked. He climbed on top of the vehicle, deciding to just dangle from the roof and try to reach the oranges like that. Being tiny and able to hold a decent balance and all- he managed to reach down and grab two of the lost fruits, seeing a final one on the floor. He reaches further down, eventually falling into the car and landing on the thankfully empty backseats. The commotion caused something in the front seat to move around. “Hello?” Bink called out, though he didn’t get a reply. He steps on the centre console to climb out again, his head is already poking out of the car again. Yet suddenly he feels something grab his leg.  
The boy attempts to wiggle himself out of whatever is holding onto him, but his attempts end in vain. He holds onto the roof of the car and tries to push himself out. Yet suddenly he feels a sharp pain not far from where he was being held onto. A loud scream left his lungs. It was high pitched and extremely loud. It immediately alerted the other members of his small expedition crew who now had the water cart safely parked on the grass island. 

Daniel quickly rushed over to the screaming boy, stepping onto the front of the car and aiding Bink in getting the hell out of there. The quickest look on the small boy’s leg already said enough though- blood was dripping down his jeans. Bink was sobbing in either pain or shock, clinging onto Daniel.  
Daniel was now panicking just as much. “Guys- I’ll be back. I have to bring him to the med wing.” He said, picking the kid up without too much of a struggle. Sixth graders were as small as goddamn babies. 

Sam hated to lose the one person who was doing most of the carrying, but Daniel had more important things to do, and he could see that. 

“Come back safe.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jasmine was peacefully lying down on one of the huge mats when it happened, her eyes were closed and she was enjoying the silence when suddenly- the electricity went off. Everything was a lot darker than it should be, and the huge swing the students have build couldn’t be remote controlled anymore.  
They used a huge net and a couple of strings hanging from the ceiling to create a sort of place to just lie down and relax- occasionally use it as a swing and such. Jas sat up, carefully looking around. When did this thing go up so high? There was no way that she was going to jump down on anything from this height. How were they going to get down? She was lying up there with two other girls- Sarah, a good friend of Jasmine’s. And a girl who earlier said her name was Meike.

“What the hell happened?” Sarah, who has been in a semi-sleep state for a short while now, questioned.  
“I think the electricity’s out,” Jasmine said, already noticing some of the kids under them starting to give each other confused glances. 

It didn’t take long for her to call out to someone to please throw the rope ladder to the people on the mat, and eventually climb down it. Jasmine felt a wave of relief once her feet hit solid ground. The thought of the ropes holding the mat up just giving up without the electricity and letting the three girls fall down the 3 or so metres have caused a slight panic to bubble inside her. She was somewhat safe now. Or at least she tried to tell herself that

“Is everyone okay?” She asks the small group of students who were looking at her as if they were waiting on her to give them orders or something. She didn’t know what to think of it. Instead, she just focussed on thinking about what to do next. “So, what do we do now?” Mare questioned as she popped up behind Jasmine. She tried to hide how startled she was by answering her question. “I’m assuming we wait for a short while and then see if-” she was interrupted by a scream coming from some corner. 

Jasmine could hear a growling sound, and then another. And another-. Oh God. Jasmine grabbed Mare’s hand and quickly made a run for where Mitch and Julian were still silently playing cards in a corner, apparently not too shaken by the sudden blackout. Which was odd considering it was nearly dark in the room now. The blinds were mostly down, only letting very minimal light in. “Guys. The people-. Tox-. They’re-.” Jasmine struggled to form a coherent sentence, but the jumble of words managed to alert the two boys nonetheless. They immediately got up and reached for their knives. They attempted to look confident but Jasmine did not fail to see the extreme discomfort behind their eyes. 

“Who?” Julian asked, seen as he’s the one actually knowing most of their names. Jasmine just shook her head, she could feel tears starting to appear in her eyes. “I don’t know- A lot of people!”  
Without another word, Julian pressed his knife in Jasmine’s hand and reached for a different one for himself. “What-?” Jasmine asked, her heart sinking.  
“Just in case-. Stay back. I’ll send anyone who’s healthy your way.” 

Julian and Mitch both made their way to the area that was now just a mess of confused yelling and growls. Jasmine looked down at the knife, then at Mare. She felt sick. She didn’t want this. She couldn’t deal with this sort of responsibility. How was she supposed to ram this thing into the skull of one of her fellow students? She started shaking and quickly leaned on the edge of one of the tables to stop herself from toppling over. “What’s going on..?” She asks defeatedly, trembling to her core. 

Mare hugged her torso, arms slung around her. “I don’t think I want to know.”

-

After a couple of minutes of anxious waiting, crying, and attempting to open the blinds- Mare finally succeeds. 

She wished she hadn’t.

The sight before them was something from a slasher movie. Mare struggled to choke down the bile that was rising in her throat, Jas flinched, closing her eyes as tightly as she could and looking down. She still held her knife- so tightly her knuckles turned white. Her eyes fell on Justin, who was one of the three last standing. She managed to overcome her fear and carefully walked back to the gym. 

She started to cry, more than before. She started to sob- not being able to stop herself. The group of kids that had been talking and enjoying their day only a couple of minutes ago were now dead. Lying on the ground in bloody puddles. Jasmine shook her head, not wanting to accept that this is the reality she'd have to live in. That this is how things were going to be now. She locks eyes with Julian, who had the same look of horror on his face. 

“M-Mitch?” She asks, not having seen the boy amongst the living. Julian just shakes his head, also starting to cry a little. “He’s unconscious. He was bitten.” Jasmine walked over to Julian, doing her best to not step on any of the bodies that were scattered around. 

“I”m so sorry-.”

“It’s- It’s fine.” 

Jasmine shook her head, not accepting that answer. “It’s not fine! None of this is goddamn fine! Your friend died protecting these students from other students! Look at all of the fucking corpses around us and wake up from the dream you’re clearly living in, asshole!” She flinched at herself, she didn’t usually swear this much- not at all, actually. But something about knowing whose corpses were lying at her feet kind of ignited anger inside her. 

Julian was clearly upset. If it was at himself or at the fact that Jas was feeling shitty, she failed to figure out. All the taller boy did was open his arms, offering the girl a hug. She hesitated, but eventually stepped forward and let herself be pulled into an embrace. She was still upset- but she couldn’t help but feel a little safe this way. 

“We should probably get the med team up here.” 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Felix’s running group arrived at the school with their faces contorted in traumatised frowns. Clearly, all of them were reliving the events of just a couple of minutes ago. Felix could see Albert sitting in the entrance hall, still looking through the piles upon piles of bags. “Dude! We’re not dead!” he exclaimed, mostly because he himself still had a hard time believing it. 

Al got up from where they was sitting, thankful for the distraction from the boring job they’ve been doing all day. “How was it? Did you guys manage to find some useful supplies?” They asks, and the group replies with mixed answers- most of them just being a hesitant “Yes.”. Albert noticed this and then asked if anything bad had happened in the time the group was out.

Katinka nods. “Well-. I mean-. Yes. Something happened.” She explains, still hating how she couldn’t help the other three out more. “We sort of ran into a group of Tox-.” She could see the colour drain from Albert’s face, “We were trapped. And we uh- you know did what we had to.” 

Vincent scoffed. “Yeah, and we looked pretty fucking badass while doing it.” He added, grinning to himself. There was a hint of something else in there, perhaps fear, perhaps remorse. Covering up his emotions with cockiness and assholery was typical for him. It wouldn’t surprise anyone to know that Vincent is at least a little shaken from having just bashed some heads in. 

The conversation was about to continue when suddenly a tall boy burst into the entrance hall, a smaller, blood covered student was in his arms. He pauses, recognising the group of runners. “Good to know you guys got back safe-. We uh- we nearly did. I have to get to the med wing, prompto. But know that big load of supplies is coming in soon." 

Without letting anyone answer, Daniel rushes upstairs. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Daniel didn't know what he’d expect when arriving in the med wing. But he certainly didn’t expect to see a scene from some sort of hospital tv show where absolutely everything was going wrong. He walked into the chem lab, all eyes suddenly falling on him. Susannah was the first to rush to him, she bombarded him with questions he didn’t even really pay attention to.  
“Who is that? When did this happen? Is he bitten? Where were the Tox? Is the Tox still around? Are you bitten too?” Daniel just shook his head, doing his best ignoring all of the questions and instead just waited until the leader of the med wing was finally quiet. 

“I just-. Help him. Please.” The taller of the two asked, feeling more and more anxious the less his little brother was breathing. Susannah nodded, sighing. “Follow me.”

The two left the chem lab, entering the bio classroom. Daniel cringed at the sight. A couple of the tables were occupied with students lying on them. Some of them obviously bitten- others all he could see was blood.  
“Put him here,” Susannah said, vaguely gesturing to one of the tables. “I have to go to this meeting thing again, it’s important, The others can help you.” She left without letting Daniel say anything else. 

The boy sighed, putting his little brother down on one of the tables. He doesn’t know if he is more repulsed by the idea of looking away or by continuing to look at the kid suffering.  
“What’s the damage?” a voice asks from across the table. He looks up at a girl he doesn’t immediately recognise. 

“He was bitten- I think. I don’t know what you can do. It was his leg. Can you amputate it? Can you save him?” He looked at the girl with a desperation he rarely shows, he hoped to see comfort in the girl’s eyes. Maybe hope, or anything that would tell him that Bink wasn’t going to die. He saw no such thing. 

The girl sighs. “An amputation?” she places her hand on her hip, playing with the idea for a moment. “You know that none of us has finished high school?” she quickly realised that the tone she was talking with did very little to comfort the teenager in front of her. “Okay. Calm down. I’m Valerie. I am going to see what Susannah, Mirre, the others, and I can do-. But our medical experience just isn’t very advanced.” _‘And by not advanced I mean plainly not existing.’_ She mentally added. “Just go downstairs. Help out with whatever thing needs helping out with - we both know there’s something to do-, and I’m sure everything will end up fine for… uh-” “Bink.” She nodded. “Bink.”

Daniel didn’t enjoy having to leave his brother behind, but the look Valerie gave him told him that any protest would just be faced with a less nice way of getting him downstairs and do something useful. He hesitantly agreed to leave. 

As soon as the door closed behind him, Mirre darted over to Valerie so she could also have a look at their patient. “He wants us to amputate this boy’s leg?” She asks incredulously. Mirre was only here as a volunteer in case she’d have to give someone water or maybe disinfect a wound. Not remove someone’s limb.  
Valerie shrugged. “Don’t know. I mean, if he really has been bitten- it’s not like he’s going to live to see tomorrow anyway. If we act fast…” She felt sick at the thought of all the blood. Even worse so at the thought of having to cut that leg off with something one of the saws from woodworking class. “I mean- we can try.” 

Mirre nodded “If he dies-. He dies. If he lives- then we did a really good thing. I’ll go get a saw or something-. You best find something to tie him down with.” She turned around to face the last of the ‘doctors’ in the room. “Femke, you’re gonna have to help us out with this one-.”

-

Daphne groans, tapping her pen on her table in a very annoying way. “What the fuck do you mean ‘they all just turned!?’ She yelled furiously. If looks could kill everyone in this room would be dead by now. 

Julian shook his head, clearly done with dealing with this girl as much as everyone else. “Listen. The lights went out and they all just turned. I don’t know why it happened, it just did!” Julian regretted bringing Jasmine with him. He thought she could tell the others what happened way better than he ever could- but all that ended up happening was Jas just being too intimidated by all of the older students, too scared to talk too much. Now it just felt like he’d have to protect her from whatever nonsense Daphne was spewing. 

“That doesn’t just happen! If it would’ve been the dark then everyone would have turned during the first night in the classroom. There has to be something else.” 

Susannah shook her head, she had a ton of questions but knew that Julian nor Jas would have an answer. She instead acted like she was too busy to take part in the conversation by just looking at her clipboard. She felt like a kid whose parents were fighting at the dinner table. 

Jonah clears his throat. “Guys. Calm down-. We don’t need any more yelling. We have patients one room over. We can’t have them hearing us yell like this..”  
There was a low ‘mhm’ from Jacob to show he agreed. “Learn to shut your mouth, Daphne.” Why couldn’t she just play along for once? In his mind, Daphne always had to be the boss of everyone. She just had this extreme need for always wanting to know everything and own everyone. She honestly was a terrible person to even have in the team- but the others liked her. And she was really damn smart. Ugh. 

Thijs, after being silent for way too long, finally spoke up. “What if it was the sudden change? The sudden darkness.” He flicked his fingers at his second to last word. “It would explain why some have and haven’t changed. The ones who haven’t changed aren’t infected. We know not everyone is.” 

It seemed to settle the dispute. For now, at least. 

-

Jacob shot Daphne another glare as the others packed their things and left. The discussion has eventually spiralled into the dead bodies topic- what to do with them. Later it turned into how to keep the school secure… It was a mess. No one managed to agree on anything.

Jonah was about to leave. Susannah would usually stay behind, but she had an amputation that was going terribly wrong and she had to desperately help out with. “Hey, Jacob- you comin’? Thijs said we can sleep in the classrooms on the third floor.” He seemed rather eager to get out of the room. If he wanted to be alone with Jacob or get away from Daphne wasn’t quite clear. 

Jacob was about to get up, but Daphne spoke before he had the chance to do so .”He’s staying.” 

Jonah looked like a hurt puppy, “I uh- I’ll be right down the hall, then.” he sighed and closed the door behind him after he left.  
Jacob shot Daphne yet another glare. “What was that about?” He growled, loathing the fact that he just let Jonah leave like that. Daphne better have a really good reason for pissing him off more than usual today. 

“I needed to talk to you. In private. I can’t have Jonah here because he’s basically Thijs’ dog-. Thijs could say ‘jump’ and Jonah would ask him ‘how high?’.” Daphne explained, tapping the pads of her fingers on the table she was sitting on. Her raven hair fell over her face dramatically. She looked like a 60’s movie villain. “Then Sanne- she’s sweet and all but way too much with her head in the clouds. She’s smart and knows what she wants. But she hardly acts upon it. So she’d be worthless.”

Jacob shook his head. “Get to the point.”

“We need to overthrow this place.”

“What!?” Rage filled Jacob, how could Daphne think Thijs wasn’t fit to lead this place? How could she think she is better than him?

“Now’s the time to do it. Thijs is too soft-. Have you not seen what the Tox in the gym had done? What they did to all those kids? To Mitch?” she threatened, serious as a woman could be. 

Mentioning Mitch certainly hit a nerve with Jacob. He and Mitch had been friends since way before middle school. He is the one person he cared about more than anyone in the world. His passing has let to Jacob crying for hours earlier that day. It was hard to pull himself away from Mitch’s dead body when ‘it really had to go upstairs now’. 

Daphne barked a laugh, which caused the other to flinch. “You’re sensitive too,” She stated matter of factly. “It makes you weak. But I’m not! I’m strong. I know what we need to do to make this school a safer place. And it starts with killing everyone who could possibly be infected.”

**Author's Note:**

> omg, you actually read this???? 
> 
> Thanks????
> 
> I am hungry for validation so please comment something it would make my day thanku.


End file.
